Monday, August 5, 2013

How do you conquer your spirit of fear?

In a day and age where you find out that everything including the food you eat can harm your child how do you as a parent cope with the dangers for your kids safety and health.

There is a lot of panic stricken Adults out there. First we find out that BPA in plastic has been leaking toxins into our foods and drinks when heated. Then we learn about GMO's which are in pretty much everything. Let's not even mention letting your kids play outside for fear someone will grab them. The child safety laws for seat belts are trying to push to get your kid to be in a car seat until they are 13. I lived in California and there are warnings on everything including the buildings, that you can get cancer. What is a parent to do in an age when nothing seems safe for you and your child. How to you quiet the fears growing inside you.

Matthew 18:10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

The Answer: Trust God. The verse above is a promise to us parents. That our children are watched by God and his angels all the time. Even when we cannot protect them from dangers known and unknown. God is there.

I learned this verse after I had my son Joshua.

He was a preemie and after 2 days we got to go home with him. When we got home he began to not nurse as well. After 2 days, even though he was peeing as many diapers as they said he should, he was not eating as well as he had in the hospital. I took him to our pediatrician and he assured me things were fine since he was still peeing. I told him no it's not. Something is wrong.

We left the pediatrician and went straight to the ER. They checked his temperature and it was below normal and he had been in blankets all the way over. They were concerned because babies will not run a temperature with an infection after birth their temperature will drop. They went to do a spinal tap on him and he stopped breathing. They started pushing me out of the room while they revived him.

As a nurse I knew what was happening as the code cart comes out.

I fell onto my knees and cried out for my tiny little baby. Luckily they were able to revive him.

Later we would find out he had no infection. The problem was that since he was a preemie he didn't have a strong suck reflex, he also had apnea of pre-maturity (he stops breathing) and a little re-flux to make it interesting. After a long week in the NICU he finally was able to go home again this time with a heart monitor.

God is the one in control.

During this time I learned that not only is God with our children they are not ours. He can give them to us at anytime and take them away at anytime. We don't have any control whether they live or die. We can keep them safe and provide for them but ultimately that timing of life or death is in his hands. We simply do the best we can and raise them to meet God one day.

Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.

Acts 17:26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

So what do we do with all the warnings our society has for us for the safety of our kids. We make positive changes based on the knowledge God gives us, not because of fear. We set limits on where our kids can play outside based on how responsible they are. We catch our breath and enter the buildings with warnings because we have business to do there today. We take risks but we remember God is with us. As for what we eat and drink we say thank you to God for his provision and ask him to bless our food to our health. That does not mean that we don't try and minimize risk but that technology and science changes (ex. eggs, margarine, whole wheat bread), God never does.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.